The work-reflection-learning cycle - Department of Computer and ...

8 Conclusion and further work
This thesis has approached the challenge of supporting learning in SE student projects
by focusing on day-to-day project work and retrospective reflection on that work. The
underlying idea is that within project based learning, doing real work is the driving
force for learning. The students should accordingly be allowed to keep their focus on
the challenges of collaborative work and gain experience from addressing them as
Software Engineers. In the thesis, lightweight collaboration tools have been shown to be
valuable in day-to-day SE work in different ways and for different purposes. Also, the
lightweight collaboration tools have been shown to be potential resources for
retrospective reflection, in SE student projects and in project based learning more
generally, helping to integrate daily work and reflection on that work (Figure 17).
Figure 17: Support for learning in Software Engineering student projects as
approached in this thesis
The findings of the thesis point to a need for a conscious and reflective use of
collaboration tools in SE project courses; among students, course organizers and
supervisors. The thesis illustrates how handling of project challenges by project teams,
frequently involving cross-community collaboration, is closely connected to the use of
collaboration tools. The students would accordingly benefit from insights about the
strengths and weaknesses of various collaboration tools and tool usage, contextualized
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